The Mentality
by The Mad Hatter Effect
Summary: The day Jack Krauser had left had been a surprise, not because of his choice, they had all known it would happen after all. Krausercentric Oneshot


**Disclaimer:** I own absolutely nothing. Everything featured is property of its original owner and producers.

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The day Jack Krauser had left had been a surprise, not because of his choice, they had all none it would happen after all. It was just a part of who he was. It had only been a matter of when he would do it. No, the surprise had come from the fact that Krauser had never once boasted or even told a soul that he had already enlisted for the military. Ultimately the man believed it was no one's business but his own, after all. He hadn't seen a need to inform them of his life plans and so he hadn't.

It was as simple as that.

He had kept the goodbyes brief, never really having been close to his family or his few friends. Krauser supposed the shock that he was leaving that very minute, just after having received the news of his enlistment helped with keeping them so short. For that he was grateful - he wasn't what you'd call sensitive, after all. And as the man grew closer and closer to the destination, the area designated for basic training, he readied himself mentally, just as he had readied himself physically for years.

Jack had heard the stories, after all. They all had, there wasn't a single person alive who _hadn't_ heard at least one story about boot camp or basic training for some branch of the military. And with these in mind on top of the research he had performed he had built up his discipline and body…

Stories couldn't prepare you for shit, he found out.

He had abhorred the fact that in the face of his new drill sergeants he was just as lost and unprepared as the other men around him. It had seemed Krauser just couldn't get anything right and the recruits around him didn't seem to care - only glad that when the drill sergeants were shouting at him they weren't shouting at them. It pissed him off… What had happened to that teamwork? You were supposed to look after your comrades, damnit! And in training what was the recruit next to you but your comrade?

But the days soon began to pass quickly, the routines settling into place neatly. Some recruits merely gave up, the stress and training becoming too much. Krauser hadn't been sad to seem them go; they didn't want to be there anymore, so why should he attempt to carry their weight for them? He felt no sympathy for those recruits. And just as swiftly as he had come to terms with the routines, he had come to terms with how he was no longer "Jack" but "Krauser" (or sometimes "Creature" or "Cretin" if the drill sergeants felt like 'playing' that day).

And Krauser found it simple. All you had to do was as you were told…

You didn't have to overly think it through, like some of the men around him did. Sometimes it was the simplest of answers that was what ended up being right. And it was quick that Krauser found his niche in life. He was a born soldier; loyal to the end and never willing to give up, no matter the cost. He always looked after his comrades (or at least, the ones who put out the effort and clearly wanted to be there) and made sure shit got done. Krauser wasn't just the 'rough around the edges' teenager anymore, who wasn't that close with anyone. He was a fighter, a soldier, through and through. He was obedient for his ranking superiors and his cause. He was the perfect soldier…

So long as he had a cause to fight for Krauser could find meaning within his life. A life which had previously been empty, had held nothing interesting or even the least bit enjoyable to him.

That all was nearly killed the day the military discharged Jack Krauser for his wounded arm… Suddenly, he found himself with no cause to fight for… No comrades to have his back… And that was when he began to remember the man named 'Albert Wesker' that Leon had mentioned in South America… The one with a noble, if not rather dark, cause to fight for…

It was all about doing as you were told, after all, and ignoring the mental games…

If you did that, Krauser reasoned, life was easy…


End file.
